As we approach the feast of the Nativity, we also remember the feast of the Annunciation when Archangel Gabriel told Mary of God’s wish for her to carry the son of God. She accepted with humility and faith, and this moment is one of the most popularly illustrated biblical scenes in art history. It’s an event celebrated in Victoria’s Il-Ħaġar Museum this month, in an exhibition The Annunciation: the Itinerary of Hope Through Iconography, coordinated by Valerio Ballotta and Virna Govoni of GBK Malta.

Paying tribute to Ballotta, a recognised expert in modern and contemporary art who has worked with prominent Italian art galleries and museums for nearly 30 years, Mark Sagona, of the Department of Art and Art History, University of Malta, explains that previously, to see the works by many of the greats such as Albrecht Dürer, Maltese residents needed to go abroad.

However, since Ballotta’s move to Gozo in 2014, he has enriched the Maltese art scene with a series of world-class exhibitions at Il-Ħaġar, of which this is the latest.

The Annunciation from The Book of Hours, unknown, 16th century

The Annunciation: the Itinerary of Hope Through Iconography is a series of 40 depictions of the Annunciation by European masters spanning the late Gothic period through the Renaissance and into the baroque era. The works include, for example, an illuminated page from The Book of Hours (Paris, 1500); The Annunciation to Mary in oil on glass by an unknown 16th-century Italian painter; and The Announcing Angel by Giuseppe Bossi in embossed and chiselled copper dating back to the early 1800s.

Simple woodcuts dating back to the 15th and 16th century, many of which have been hand-coloured, hang alongside detailed engravings and larger oil paintings, and the similarities between them and the consistent inclusion of motifs is striking: the dove represents the descending Holy Spirit, a book signifies that the angel is merely a messenger bringing word from beyond, and lilies symbolise purity. 

One of the most popularly illustrated biblical scenes in art history

Mary, full of grace, is generally characterised in an everyday setting infused with light, and it is interesting to see how this varies between the works – in Barocci’s Etching and Burin (c. 1584), there are the towers of a church through the window while other artists show rural views.

The Annunciation, unknown, 15th century

From the series The Life of the Virgin, a print by Albrecht Dürer depicts Mary and the angel between grandiose layered stone arches that create a perception of depth. In the ceiling above them, a carving features the biblical heroine Judith holding the head of the Assyrian general, Holofernes, from whom she saved her people from destruction, referencing, perhaps, Mary’s forthcoming role in saving us all from sin as the mother of Jesus. In the detail, you’ll also find an unexpected badger under the stairs!

In several, you’ll also find a cat; and in the excellent comprehensive book that accompanies the show (Il-Ħaġar Gem 32; €20), there’s a fascinating essay by Italian painter, printmaker and writer Lino Mannocci (1945-2021), including his thoughts on the cat’s perhaps surprising appearance in many depictions of the Annunciation. There are at least two to spot in this exhibition, including a sleeping feline by Federico Barocci.

The Annunciation, Albrecht Dürer

The exhibition also includes two paintings, Island of the Annunciation and Island with Tree and Announcement, by Mannocci, in which he revisited the traditional iconography of this miraculous event in an attempt to secularise it. These works both lead the show and offer an unusually abstracted vision of the Annunciation rather than a literal representation.

With a focus on the significance of the Annunciation rather than Mary and the angel themselves, the paintings have a diffuse gentle light, soft yet pervasive and a mystical spirituality.

Described by Italian art critic and professor of art history Vittorio Sgarbi as a “metaphysical aura” and “an adaptation to contemporary times”, these abstractions feature a distant island, a tranquil landscape that is at once both familiar and distant, that could be of or distinct from this world.

Island with Tree and Announcement, Lino Mannocci

“The island can be interpreted as a microcosm, a place for reflection and inwardness, where the event of the Annunciation takes on an even deeper significance,” explains Don Angelo Pede (and again, there’s a thoughtful and detailed consideration of these works in the exhibition guide).

“The isolation emphasises Mary’s solitude in the face of such a great mystery, simultaneously highlighting her connection to nature and the divine. The tree, present in many representations of the Annunciation, often symbolises the Tree of Life or the Tree of Knowledge.

Interesting addition to the show in the philately case downstairs

“In Mannocci’s work, the tree might take on an even more complex significance, perhaps alluding to the divine root of Jesus’s life or to humanity’s spiritual growth.”

There’s an interesting addition to the show in the philately case downstairs in Il-Ħaġar which hosts regularly changing displays. Religion is commonly the subject of Maltese stamps, and the Annunciation has made repeated appearances.

To accompany The Annunciation: the Itinerary of Hope Through Iconography, the  Gozo Philatelic Society is currently presenting a number of these, including stamps that show the Annunciation as seen in Flemish tapestries (1977 issues); a depiction in a stamp triptych  by Maltese artist Anton Inglott (issued in 1980); the medieval Roman Catholic chapel consecrated in Ħal-Millieri, Żurrieq, in 1480; processional statues from Balzan and Tarxien in 2019 and 2022; and, from 2005, a painting of The Annunciation by Emvin Cremona, which inspired the mosaics at Ta’ Pinu.

The Annunciation: The Itinerary of Hope Through Iconography runs until January 12 at Il-Ħaġar Museum, Victoria.